Blogtober 2022 : Day 10
Wow! We’re 10 days into Blogtober and we’re all still here! High fives and glass or mug clinks all round! 🙂
I thought I had better show you where I’m up to with my Blogtober projects today. Waaaay back on Day 1, I (rashly) announced my projects for the month (nothing like making yourself accountable to get things finished!) and told you that I had plans for three projects along with two sock patterns that I’m currently working on.
First up was the pair of Carousel Socks that I had started and unravelled last year.
They have knitted up remarkably quickly and I just remembered to take this photo last night when I started working on the toe decreases for the second sock. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this pattern of mine. I don’t often go back and knit them again after I’ve created them and maybe I should, but there’s always the pull of the new idea … 🙂 The lace pattern after the top section is just two rounds and it’s been easy TV knitting, although there have been times when I have needed to concentrate VERY hard on what I’ve been doing – we sat through one of the films on not so small daughter’s A Level film studies list with her the other day and it turns out that Pan’s Labyrinth is never going to be one of my favourites. I’ve never liked horror films (and this isn’t one, although there are some unpleasant characters in it) but I’m finding at the moment that even films I would have tolerated before are feeling just “a bit much”. I’m assuming it’s all part of this fun phase of life that I’m finding myself in, but whilst I’m waiting for it to all sort itself out, having knitting in your hands is such a good excuse to take yourself out of the moment, isn’t it?
Back to the socks, and for those of you short circular knitters who haven’t tried using magic loop for the toes, it’s another technique to try – and is certainly a good option if you’re going to be travelling then you’re not as likely to lose any DPNs. You can find the instructions for creating the toes with magic loop in the Sockalong tutorials here.
These socks should be finished tonight so I’ll try to take some ta-dah photos for you tomorrow – or certainly before the end of the month!
I’ve also done a bit more on my pouffe cover and whilst this is not the most scintillating crochet project that I have ever attempted, I don’t think there’s that much more to go. I really should measure it!
I’m only doing this in short bursts but doing anything at all is progress and I’ll be glad to have it finished by the end of October. I’ve made a concerted effort to finish off the things that are lying around over the last month and I’m feeling a definite sense of achievement at seeing the pile of WIP bags get smaller. It never bothers me having lots of things on the go, but it is nice to have things finished too!
The Split Mittens aren’t any further on as I still haven’t found my needle tips but I think I have remembered where they might be (always a result!) and they may be with a jumper that I started knitting for myself in – oh, I’ve just found the blog post and embarrassingly, that was also in 2021. I really did like the jumper pattern but the yarn was knitting up in wide stripes that weren’t going to give me the look that I had hoped for so I ended up unravelling it. I don’t even know where the project bag is so I think I have probably hidden it in despair after knitting as much of it as I did before I decided that I didn’t like it. Big daughter had thought at the time that I would look a bit like a character from a children’s TV programme and that was the end of it. I absolutely was not going to spend hours knitting a jumper that made me look like something that was likely to break into song and encourage everybody else to join in and do the actions at any moment. Laura suggested in the blog comments that holding a laceweight yarn with the stripy yarn might break up the colours but I didn’t have any laceweight of the right colour and I think the thought of starting yet again might have been a bit much at the time.
Nope, it’s not good, now that I’ve started writing about where I think they might be, I have to go and have a look. Hang on.
Aha! I was right!
And now I’m a bit perplexed as I have no idea what these needles are. Why did I need a 6mm 100cm fixed circular needle? I don’t remember that from the pattern although I haven’t looked at it again. And what are the metal needles when the knitting is on a wooden-tipped circular? And there are my 3.00mm DPNs that I thought I’d lost!
It looks like I’ve started the jumper again and from the number of working yarns, it looks like in the absence of any laceweight, I’ve had a go at multi-yarn helical knitting but I’m assuming it wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped as I’ve stopped. I’ll need to get my needle gauge out to try to work out which (if any) of the needles might be the size I need for my Split Mittens, but even the thought of trying to work out what the needles are and what I was doing is making me sigh. I can see why I hid it away in a bag.
I will ponder the jumper tonight whilst I finish the toes of my Carousel Socks. It’s not on my list to work on during Blogtober so I don’t feel obligated to try to do anything with it this month, but it might be nice to finish it one day if I can. I do like the yarn very much, it’s lovely and soft, I’m just not a fan of the stripes. There will be an answer to this! 🙂
Have a lovely rest of your Monday, I’ll see you tomorrow! xx
I see what you mean about watching films you don’t really like, I was asked to join a book club but when someone mentioned the had read a Stephan King book I thought that’s not for me. Good luck in the needle hunt!
I was a book club member once and there were a couple that really weren’t my thing – I was very vague about them in the discussion! 🙂 xx
I’m so impressed that you can juggle so many works at one time. Two is my absolute limit. Always a pair of socks that I love knitting when I’m being driven in the car and perhaps a crochet blanket or a knitted jumper. I will check out that tutorial for knitting toes with a magic loop. Thanks for that. B x
It is much easier to knit in the car if you know you’re not going to lose any DPNs! I sold a car with one stuck down the dashboard once, I’ve often wondered if someone found it and wondered what it was! 🙂 xx
Your socks look cute! And I loved going down the rabbit hole of discovery with you as you pulled out your jumper. I hope you can work out a way to save it as that colour is very pretty
I love that colour! That will have been why I bought the yarn, but I really couldn’t bear the stripes 🙂 xx
It is very easy to forget small details when you have a lot of other things on the go, but with so many knitting needles all in one place, it’s no wonder you’re confused! Perhaps you tried one set, didn’t like it, so started using another? Finishing WIPs, if only…
It’s more likely that I needed more than one size for the jumper, and I think I might have been trying out the wooden ones after a review but I do need to get my gauge out and see what I was up to. I’ve got to say, the satisfaction factor of finishing WIPs off at the moment is enormous! 🙂
All these lost needles, lol. I can’t do scary especially near bed time. Your kitten looks huge now.
Ooh, definitely not near bedtime, but I find it hard to make the pictures in my head go away so I learnt a long time ago to avoid scary altogether! 🙂 xx
Hi, I just wondered if you have tried the AddiCrasyTrio needles for toe shaping. They look like they are a good idea but I’m not sure. I find juggling 4 needles a bit of a faff.
No, I’ve never knitted a whole sock with the CrasyTrio needles although I have tried them out on someone else’s sock 🙂 I know that there are lots of people in my Facebook group who use them so if you’re on Facebook and want to ask for opinions, that might be a good idea 🙂 xx
Another lovely blog and congratulations on reaching day 10! I’m loving it!
What about a bit of Fairisle instead if stripes?
Fair Isle is a great idea but I can’t get any more of the yarn as it’s been discontinued … I’ll have to give that some thought! 🙂 xx
I used to feel ‘bad’ about having so many WiPs until a post of yours a long time ago in which you said something like it was good to have different projects for different situations and moods (hope I’m remembering that right?) and it made me feel much better! I am wary of knitting jumpers these days as they are so much work and you don’t know if they will suit you until they are finished – maybe the yarn would be better for a scarf/shawl or even a bag?
Yes, you’re quite right – it was a post about a Betsan Corkhill therapeutic knitting workshop and she recommended plenty of WIPs! I know what you mean about the work in the jumper – this was a top down pattern so I could try it on as I go but the yarn let me down! 🙂 xx
A silly question, I think, but I really don’t know: “What are split mittens?” I know what mittens are, and also fingerless gloves, but of split mittens I have never heard!
Oh, Split Mittens are fabulous! 🙂 It’s a pattern that I designed quite a few years ago for mittens with a split across the palm which is far more useful than across the fingers as you can get your whole hand out. There’s a pattern and blog post for them here 🙂 xx
Thank you! This is such an ingenious idea! I don’t have a dog any more, but I do need to answer my phone sometimes when I’m out walking so I shall be making these too soon.
They are PERFECT for that! 🙂 xx
Don’t know how you manage so many WIPs. I noticed you got a mention in knitting magazine issue 236, pg 11. It was advertising the new West Yorkshire Spinners yarn. Keep up the good work.
Oh that’s fabulous, thank you for telling me! 🙂 xx PS the WIP pile is getting smaller …